Soundtrack to Japan's most popular computer game. Composed, arranged & produced by Nobuo Uematsu. 1999.
CD Reviews
SCORE! Nobuo Uematsu Does It Again!
Raine | United States | 03/14/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This soundtrack is simply breathtaking! I can believe how much I enjoy listening to these songs. I bought the FFVII soundtrack a while ago, and couldn't wait for FFVIII, so I could here the music! No matter how much I love FFVII's soundtrack, this one is even better! Song's such as 'Liberi Fatali', 'The Landing', 'Force Your Way', Waltz for the Moon', 'Tell Me', 'Premonition' and one of my personal favorite 'The Oath', are just some of the 74 wonderful tracks. I will admit that even with all the good, there is some bad. The song 'SeeD' is wonderful, but it's hard to listen to repeatedly. 'Junction' is a bit dull, but it's short enough that it doesn't get on your nerves too much. The track 'Galbadia Garden' is interesting, because it has one of the best openings but then the song goes down hill. 'Jailed', and 'Rivals', are not bad, but there not great either. The only song I really can't stand is 'Residents' which is okay when playing the game, but by it's self it's horrible! I know it seems like I said a lot of negative things, but most of the soundtrack is wonderful. The following, and the songs above, are reason's why you should buy this. 'The Man with the Machine Gun' is Laguna's battle song, and a great one at that. If you ever get tired of the normal battle song don't worry, because this one won't get old. 'The Stage is Set' is another excellent piece. Played toward the end of the games first disc, it is a song played when the group of characters is planning their mission, and their destiny's. 'Fisherman's Horizon' is another beauty, it's soft charm makes it a wonderful song. 'Love Grows' is probably my favorite version of the love theme. It's a lovely tune shared between the two main characters.'Eye's on Me' is not the best vocal piece ever, but it's not that bad. I personally didn't care for it but I know many who do. To me it's a love it, or hate it kind of thing, that only you can truly judge. 'Ride On' is a fun tune, played while the group is in flight. It's one of the best airship songs ever! The songs 'The Legendary Beast' and 'Maybe I'm A Lion' may not be quite as amazing as 'One Winged Angel' from FFVII, but they certainly are incredible final boss tunes. 'Ending Theme' is great, and I'm not talking about the 'Eye's on me' part. 'Ending theme' has a mysterious opening, and a powerful, yet beautiful ending. I must admit, that although this album has some songs that I don't listen to that often, it is so good overall that it should deffinitly get 5 stars."
7 months, 74 pieces of music..
Raine | 07/19/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"That's how long they say it took Nobuo Uematsu to write this soundtrack, although it sounds like it took years. The music from FF8 was excellent-you'd put your playstation away, and you'd find yourself humming the songs "The Landing"or "Balamb Garden"..(or your two year old sister would go around humming Liberi Fatali). Then you'd realize that you're only going back to Edea's house so you can hear "Truth". You try to play "Eyes on Me" on the piano-with less than desirable results. Time to fork over fifty dollars(and it's worth it). The sound quality on this album is excellent, it's packaged really nice(they should get a picture of it on here), and don't worry, most of the pamphlet is written in English, including the lyrics to "Eyes on Me" and "Liberi Fatali"."
One of Uematsu's Best.
Olaf the Bear | Seattle, WA | 04/26/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The first time I heard the soundtrack, I hadn't played FFVIII yet (because it was released in the states much later than in Japan), and I didn't really care for it too much. But once you play the game itself and can really associate the tunes with emotions, places and characters, the music means so much much more.Some of my favorites on the CD are Liberi Fatali (if you ever finish the entire game, try translating the lyrics- they're in latin. It's really cool), Blue Fields, Julia, Breezy, Fragments of Memories, Fisherman's Horizon, Maybe I'm a Lion, and of course... Eyes on Me. The ending theme is also pretty incredible, because it incorporates Eyes on Me, a orchestral remix of Liberi Fatali, the prelude AND the prologue. Uematsu didn't miss a beat on this one."
The Right Stuff
Chris | Atlanta, Georgia USA | 03/30/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was thoroughly pleased with the presentation of this score. In itself, the music was perfectly fitting to a spectacular game, and the album was rendered with fidelity and care. My only complaints were the lack of some rather minor (yet desireable) tracks, such as the instrumental version of "Eyes On Me", as performed by Irvine, Quistis, Selphie and Zell. And, due to their presentation in the game, some tracks are rather repeptative ("Galbadia Garden"), dull ("Drifting), or just plain irritating ("Shuffle or Boogie"). These however, do not mar the album as a whole. Some personal favorites on this album are (undeniably) "Liberi Fatali", "The Succesor"(a poignant and whistful piano solo), the jammin' techno tune "The Man with the Machine Gun", the spooky "Lunatic Pandora", and the battle theme "The Extreme". Any fan of the game should own this, and anyone looking for something different should check it out."
One of my favorite FF scores... Well, almost...
James Jeans | Galesburg, IL USA | 07/16/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"...I love them all so much. It's hard for me to choose any one of Nobuo Uematsu's works over one of the others. He's such an excellent composer. He and Yasunori Mitsuda are my favorites, you know. :-)Anyway, down to business. The game opens with `Liberi Fatali'. This is, arguably, the best song EVER written by Nobuo Uematsu. The lyrics, while in Latin, are very spot on to the game. For those not in the know, here they are: Wake from your sleep, my children, The childhood years are gone. Wake from your sleep, fated children, The peace is gone. Rise! Search! Go to the true garden, The garden of vernal truth. Fiery truth Burn the evil world. Fiery truth Light the dark world. Goodbye, children, The day has died.This is one of many translations found on the web, but they all say, basically, the same thing - Nobuo Uematsu and the people who help him with Lyrics are geniuses. From this song on, the soundtrack actually rather mellows down. The next two tracks, `Balamb Garden' and `Blue Fields' are both rather calm pieces, and don't really help display the tone of the game - militaristic. That comes next, with the second action piece of the album being the battle theme, `Don't Be Afraid'. From then on, we have a variety of ambient, soft, surreal, militaristic, and just plain odd songs. Some of my favorite tracks include `The Man With the Machine Gun', `Landing', `Starting Up', `Force Your Way', `Never Look Back', `The Stage is Set', and many, many more. The score fits the game very well, and despite all the naysay about how uninteresting the game is, I thoroughly enjoyed myself as I put over 100 hours on my first time through the game. The music was part of the reason I did so - I got the soundtrack right after having played the game, but when I ordered it, it took nearly a year to arrive. When I got it, the sound was all the sweeter. Those who like Uematsu's older style (FF IV-VI) or his newer style (FF IX-X) might not like this as much, but since I like all forms of music, I thought it was top-notch."
Track Listings (74) - Disc #1